Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cook someone's goose

/ˈkʊk ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɡus/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.67 in modern English

Syllables: cook some-one's goose
IPA: /ˈkʊk ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɡus/

26

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To spoil one's plans or hope of success.

Informal

Example Sentences

"I like this Goose Lake country better than any I've seen east of the Cascade range, and if some mishap don't cook my goose, I hope to give you a good account of it, if not of myself."
"[W]hen is it reasonable to think that the Americans will be able to put in that immense army of three millions, fully equipped, each man with a hair mattress, a hot-water bottle, a gramophone, and a medicine chest, which they tell us will get to Berlin and ‘cook the goose’ of the Kaiser? [In a letter from F. S. Oliver to his brother.]"
"A strange, awkward thought! Had Fleur cooked her own goose by trying to make too sure?"
""Well," remarked Dobbie succinctly, "that rather cooks his goose, doesn't it?""
""I am afraid Bill [William Joseph Donovan] is rapidly cooking his own goose by lobbying," Dykes recorded on 4 April. "[Walter Bedell] Smith is getting completely fed up with [Donovan].""
"Well I don't care if it's a thing or a mammal or a skunk, he can't sleep on our money. I'll cook that mammal's goose!"

Etymology

Various folk etymologies have been suggested, but the true etymology remains unknown.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈkʊk ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɡus/
British English: /ˈkʊk ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɡuːs/

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

cooks someone's goose (present, singular) cooking someone's goose (participle, present) cooked someone's goose (participle, past) cooked someone's goose (past)

Phrases

cooked goose goose is cooked kill the goose that lays the golden eggs what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander wild-goose chase

Frequently Paired Words

cooked goose goose is cooked kill the goose that lays the golden eggs what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander wild-goose chase

Synonyms

do someone's goose drive a coach and horses through upset the applecart ball up blight bumble botch bugger up bungle contaminate corrupt crab

Questions

How do you pronounce cook someone's goose?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈkʊk ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɡus/.
What does cook someone's goose mean?: To spoil one's plans or hope of success.
Where does cook someone's goose come from?: Various folk etymologies have been suggested, but the true etymology remains unknown.

How to pronounce cook someone's goose

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